IMPROVING THE EIGHTH GRADE STUDENTS’ VOCABULARY ACHIEVEMENT BY
Aisah et al. 2014. Improving the Eighth Grade Students' Vocabulary Achievement by Using Crossword
Puzzles at SMPN 1 Glagah Banyuwangi
1
JOURNAL ARTICLE
IMPROVING THE EIGHTH GRADE STUDENTS’ VOCABULARY ACHIEVEMENT BY
USING CROSSWORD PUZZLES AT SMPN 1 GLAGAH BANYUWANGI
Siti Nur Aisah, Bambang Suharjito, Eka Wahjuningsih
Language and Arts Department, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education , Jember University
Jln. Kalimantan 37, Jember 68121
E-mail: bambang.suharjito@gmail.com
Abstract
This Research was intended to improve the eighth grade students’ active participation and their vocabulary achievement
by using crossword puzzles at SMPN 1 Glagah, Banyuwangi in the 2013/2014 Academic Year. The research design was
Classroom Action Research (CAR). The research subjects were the students of class VIII C at SMPN 1 Glagah,
Banyuwangi. The data were collected through the vocabulary test and observation. The data were analyzed quantitatively.
The result showed that there was an improvement on the percentage of the students who got score 70 or higher. It
improved from 69.44% in cycle 1 to 83.33% in cycle 2. Besides, there was also an improvement on the percentage of the
students who were actively participated in the teaching learning process of vocabulary by using crossword puzzles. It
improved from 65% in cycle 1 to 78.85% in cycle 2. It means that the use of crossword puzzles in the teaching learning
process of vocabulary could improve the students’ active participation and their vocabulary achievement in 2 cycles.
Therefore, it is suggested to the English teacher to use crossword puzzles as media in teaching vocabulary.
Keywords: Crossword Puzzles, Classroom Action Research, Students' Vocabulary Achievement, Vocabulary Achievement.
Introduction
As an international language, English plays a very
important role in the world. Its role is very important in
some fields, such as education, technology, trade, science,
culture, and economy. English is regarded as the language
of modernization and technological advancement. Most of
technical journals are written in English. Therefore,
English is very important to be mastered.
The Basic Course Outline of Institutional Level
Curriculum (Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan/KTSP)
states that English ability includes four language skills,
they are listening, speaking, reading, and writing. A good
English learner should have these four skills. These skills
include three language components (grammar, vocabulary,
and pronunciation), and they should be integrated well in
the teaching learning process. It means that the mastery of
the language components is required in order to improve
the four language skills.
According to Wilkins (in Thornbury, 2005:13),
vocabulary is the most important thing in learning
language. He says, “Without grammar very little can be
conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed”. It
means that we do need vocabulary to express our ideas and
feelings to others. In addition, Tarigan (1993:14-15) argues
that the increase of students’ language skills depends on the
ARTIKEL ILMIAH MAHASISWA, 2014, I (1): 1-4
increase of their quantity and quality of vocabulary. It is
clear that vocabulary is really needed to improve students’
language skills. Further, they can use the language in daily
life.
Commonly, many students who learn English as a
foreign language get difficulties in developing their
vocabulary. Most of them think that English is a difficult
lesson which is so hard to be studied because it has many
rules such as the form of the words, the meaning of the
words, and the use of the words in the sentences. To avoid
that condition, it really needs creative ways for the English
teachers to conduct an interesting English teaching
learning process. The teacher may provide interesting
media or games in explaining the material. It will
encourage the students to spend more attention so that the
teaching learning process will run more successfully. Hatch
and Brown (1995:422) state that the key in all vocabulary
teaching is to keep motivation high while encouraging
students to develop strategies that can continue to use once
they leave the classroom.
Based on the explanations above, the researcher did an
informal interview with the English teacher of class VIII C
students at SMPN 1 Glagah, Banyuwangi, which was held
on September 25th, 2013. The researcher found the
information that class VIII C students still have difficulties
in understanding vocabulary. Some students experienced
Aisah et al. 2014. Improving the Eighth Grade Students' Vocabulary Achievement by Using Crossword
Puzzles at SMPN 1 Glagah Banyuwangi
difficulty to enlarge and enrich their vocabulary because
they may forget the vocabulary materials taught by the
teacher easily. They also experienced difficulty to know the
meaning of the words. Besides, the students seemed bored
and passive while the teacher was explaining the materials.
Only some of them paid attention and responded to the
teacher’s questions and some of them focused on their own
activity. They also kept silent when the teacher asked some
questions. It happened because the teacher taught
monotonously and she did not provide interesting media or
game in the teaching learning process. The standard
passing grade of the school is 70, but students who can
reach it were only 55.56% (20 students out of 36 students).
From the discussion above, the researcher found that
the problem was the boring situation in the class. It is often
caused by the lack of variation of teaching learning
techniques done by the teacher. To solve this problem, the
teacher should provide interesting media in order to make
the classroom activities more various and interesting.
One of the techniques that may be applied to solve the
problems above is by using games in the teaching learning
process, especially in teaching vocabulary. Games help and
encourage the learners to understand the lesson easily.
Wright, et al. (1983:1-2) state that games can provide
intense and meaningful practice of language in four skills
(reading, writing, speaking and listening), for many types
of communications. They also state that it helps the
teachers to create the contexts in which the language is
useful and meaningful. It can be concluded that games can
help the teacher to teach the students with meaningful
practice so that the students can memorize the words longer
in their mind. There are many games that can be used in
teaching learning process, one of them is crossword
puzzles. Karim and Hasbullah (1986:2.34) say that
crossword puzzle is an interesting media that make the
students find the words with their thought and imagination
enjoyably. Crossword puzzle consists of a grid of squares
and blanks into which words crossing vertically and
horizontally are written according to clues.
The problems of the research in this study were: 1)
“Can the use of crossword puzzles improve the eighth grade
students’ active participation in the vocabulary teaching
learning process at SMPN 1 Glagah Banyuwangi?”, 2)
“Can the use of crossword puzzles improve the eighth grade
students’ vocabulary achievement of nouns, verbs,
adjectives, and adverbs at SMPN 1 Glagah Banyuwangi?”.
The main objective of this research were: 1) “To improve
the eighth grade students’ active participation in vocabulary
teaching learning process at SMPN 1 Glagah Banyuwangi
by using crossword puzzles in the 2013/2014 academic
year”, 2) “To improve the eighth grade students’ vocabulary
achievement of nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs at
SMPN 1 Glagah Banyuwangi by using crossword puzzles
in the 2013/2014 academic year”.
ARTIKEL ILMIAH MAHASISWA, 2014, I (1): 1-4
2
Research Method
The research design was Classroom Action Research
(CAR). Elliot (1991:69) states that a classroom action
research is the study of a social situation with a view to
improve the quality of the action within it. The purpose of
this research was to improve class VIII C students’
vocabulary achievement by using crossword puzzles at
SMPN 1 Glagah, Banyuwangi in the 2013/2014 academic
year.
This classroom action research was conducted at
SMPN 1 Glagah, Banyuwangi. The actions were carried out
in 2 cycles. Each cycle covered the activities of planning,
implementation, observation, and reflection (Elliot,
1991:70). The area of this research was determined by
using purposive method. Fraenkel and Wallen (2006:100)
state that a purposive method is a method in choosing a
research area based on a certain purpose or reason. The
subjects of this research were the students of class VIII-C in
SMPN 1 Glagah Banyuwangi in the 2013/2014 academic
year. The number of the students is 36 students. The
methods that were used in collecting the data were
vocabulary test and observation.
In this classroom action research, vocabulary
achievement test was used to measure the students’
vocabulary achievement. It was intended to measure the
vocabulary achievement of class VIII C students of SMPN 1
Glagah, Banyuwangi after being taught by using crossword
puzzles. According to Hughes (2003:13) achievement is
conducted to measure how successful the individual
students have achieved the goal of teaching and learning
process. Hughes (2003:26) states there are two criteria to
conduct a test namely validity and reliability. A test is said
to be valid if it measures accurately what is intended to be
measured. In this research, the test established content
validity because the test was constructed based on the
indicators to be measured, namely: noun, verbs, adjectives,
and adverbs learned by the students. The test that had
content validity might be reliable. Hughes (2003:34) states
that if a test is not valid, it cannot be reliable. This
statement implied that a valid test will be reliable as well. A
test is considered to be reliable if it gives consistent result
when the same test is given in different time. It means that
the result of the scores were the same whenever the test
were scored and whoever gives the score. The test that was
used to measure the students’ vocabulary achievement was
objective test in the form of multiple choices. The test
consisted of 40 items. Each correct item was scored 2.5
points for the right answer and 0 point for the wrong
answer. Thus, if we count up, the total of the score was 100.
In this research, observation checklist was used to
know the students’ active or passive participation in the
Aisah et al. 2014. Improving the Eighth Grade Students' Vocabulary Achievement by Using Crossword
Puzzles at SMPN 1 Glagah Banyuwangi
teaching and learning process of vocabulary by using
crossword puzzles. It contained some indicators of students’
active participation, namely: 1) students answer the
teacher’s questions; 2) students are paying attention to the
teacher’s explanation; 3) students are doing the crossword
puzzles; and 4) students are doing the vocabulary exercises
in the form of crossword puzzles.
Research Findings
This research had two findings. First, the result
showed that the use of crossword puzzles could improve
class VIII-C students’ active participation in the teaching
learning process of vocabulary at SMPN 1 Glagah,
Banyuwangi in the 2013/2014 academic year. Second, the
result showed that the use of crossword puzzles could
improve class VIII-C students’ vocabulary achievement at
SMPN 1 Glagah, Banyuwangi in the 2013/2014 academic
year.
In this research, the actions were considered successful
if 75% of the students achieved the standard score that was
70, and if 75% of the students actively participated in the
vocabulary teaching learning process by using crossword
puzzles.
In the first cycle, the results of observation 1 showed
that there were 21 students out of 35 students or 60% were
categorized as active students during the learning process of
vocabulary achievement by using crossword puzzles;
meanwhile, there were 21 students out of 30 students or
70% in the observation 2 were categorized as active
students. In average, there were 65% of the students were
active in the learning process. Additionally, the result of the
product evaluation in cycle 1 showed that there were 25
students out of 36 students or 69.44% who got score 70 or
higher. The students got difficulties in understanding
adverbs given. The students also got difficulties in
understanding the meaning of some difficult words.
Therefore, it made them confused in understanding the
clues given. Only some of the students brought their own
dictionary because the teacher did not allow them to bring
dictionary so that it made them difficult to find the meaning
of some words quickly and it also wasted of time. In
conclusion, the actions in cycle 1 were not successful yet.
Therefore, the actions were continued to cycle 2 by revising
some necessary aspects related to the use of crossword
puzzles in the teaching learning process of vocabulary.
In cycle 2, the researcher gave the students more
explanations about adverbs and giving the clues in the form
of pictures which are more familiar with the students to
make them easy to understand the types of words, especially
about adverbs. Further, the researcher asked the teacher to
allow the students to bring their own dictionary so that they
could find the difficult words and did the crossword puzzles
quickly and effectively. The results of observation in cycle 2
showed that there were 27 students (77.14%) of 35 students
in the first meeting who were categorized as active students
during the learning process of vocabulary by using
ARTIKEL ILMIAH MAHASISWA, 2014, I (1): 1-4
3
crossword puzzles and there were 29 students (80.56%) of
36 students in the second meeting who were categorized as
active students. In average, there were 78.85% of the
students were active in learning process in cycle 2. It means
that the results of the observation in cycle 2 achieved the
target required that was 75% of the students active in
learning process. Further, the result of the product
evaluation that was vocabulary achievement test in cycle 2
showed that there were 30 students (83.33%) of 36 students
who got score 70 or higher. Based on the results of
observation and vocabulary achievement test in cycle 2, it
could be concluded that teaching vocabulary by using
crossword puzzles could improve the students’ vocabulary
achievement. Thus, the action research was ended.
The observation checklist showed that the average
percentage of the students’ participation in cycle 2 was
higher than that in cycle 1. In average, it increased from
65% of the students in cycle 1 to 78.85% of the students in
cycle 2 who actively participated during the learning
process. Therefore, it can be concluded that the use of
crossword puzzles improved the students’ participation in
learning process of vocabulary achievement. The
percentage of the students who got score 70 or higher in
cycle 2 (83.33%) was higher than that in cycle 1 (65%). It
means that it achieved the target required, that was 75%. It
proved that revising some factors helped the students
improve their vocabulary achievement. Therefore, the
students’ problems could be overcome in cycle 2. In
conclusion, it showed that the use of crossword puzzles
could improve the students’ vocabulary achievement in
cycle 2.
The result above proved the theories of the use of
games which could help the students in learning language,
including in learning vocabulary achievement. As Wright
et al. (1983:1) say that games can help the teacher to create
context in which the language is useful and meaningful.
Further, Tarigan (1993:260) said that crossword puzzle is a
kind of game that can enrich students' vocabulary by doing
this activity happily. Thus, they are playing the games by
learning new words. In addition, Karim and Hasbullah
(1986:2.36) explain that by doing crossword puzzle the
students are trained to think and find the correlations
between their knowledge and the clues to fill the boxes
appropriately.
Related to the research outcomes above, the use of
crossword puzzles could improve class VIII-C students’
vocabulary achievement and arouse students’ active
participation in the teaching learning process at SMPN 1
Glagah, Banyuwangi in the 2013/2014 academic year.
Conclusion and Suggestion
Based on the results, it could be concluded that the use
of crossword puzzles could improve class VIII-C students’
active participation in the classroom during the teaching
learning process of vocabulary at SMPN 1 Glagah
Banyuwangi in the 2013/2014 academic year. Meanwhile,
the use of crossword puzzles could improve the students’
Aisah et al. 2014. Improving the Eighth Grade Students' Vocabulary Achievement by Using Crossword
Puzzles at SMPN 1 Glagah Banyuwangi
vocabulary achievement of class VIII-C students of SMPN
1 Glagah Banyuwangi in the 2013/2014 academic year.
This learning media can be used as a consideration to
improve the teaching learning process of vocabulary.
Therefore, some suggestions are proposed to the following
people.
It is suggested to the English teacher of SMPN 1
Glagah, Banyuwangi to also use crossword puzzles in
teaching vocabulary because crossword puzzles can attract
students’ interest in learning vocabulary. The teacher can
take or create crossword puzzle from book or internet.
Therefore, it can help the students to learn new words and
remember those words easier. As a result, it can help the
students improve their vocabulary achievement.
It is also suggested to the students of SMPN 1 Glagah,
Banyuwangi to use crossword puzzles in order to help them
to enlarge their vocabulary repertoire. In addition, by doing
crossword puzzles, the students can find and understand
new words so that it could help them to increase their
vocabulary.
Moreover, it is suggested to the future researchers who
have the same problems in teaching vocabulary are
suggested to use crossword puzzles, because dealing with
the research result in this research, it can help the students
not only to have better understanding of new words, but
also to have better score in vocabulary achievement.
References
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]
[8]
[9]
A. Hughes, Testing for Language Teachers Second Edition.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (2003) 13-34.
A. Wright, D. Betteridge, and M. Buckby, Games for Language
Learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (1983).
Depdiknas, Kurikulum tingkat satuan pendidikan (KTSP) mata
pelajaran Bahasa Inggris untuk SPM/MTs (Book style). Jakarta:
Depdikbud(2006).
E. Hatch and C. Brown, Vocabulary, Semantics, and Language
Education. New York: Cambridge University Press (1995) 422.
H. G. Tarigan, Pengajaran Kosa Kata. Bandung: CV Angkasa (1993)
14-15, 260.
J. Elliot, Action research for educational change (Book style).
Buckingham: Open University Press (1991) 69-70.
J. R. Fraenkel and N. E. Wallen, How to Design and Evaluate
Research in Education Sixth Edition (Book style). Vol. 6, New York:
McGraw-Hill(2006) 100.
M. Karim and F. A. Hasbullah, Language Teaching Media. Jakarta:
Universitas Terbuka (1986) 2.34-2.36.
S, Thornburry, How to Teach Vocabulary. Edinburgh: Pearson
Education Limied (2005).
ARTIKEL ILMIAH MAHASISWA, 2014, I (1): 1-4
4
Puzzles at SMPN 1 Glagah Banyuwangi
1
JOURNAL ARTICLE
IMPROVING THE EIGHTH GRADE STUDENTS’ VOCABULARY ACHIEVEMENT BY
USING CROSSWORD PUZZLES AT SMPN 1 GLAGAH BANYUWANGI
Siti Nur Aisah, Bambang Suharjito, Eka Wahjuningsih
Language and Arts Department, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education , Jember University
Jln. Kalimantan 37, Jember 68121
E-mail: bambang.suharjito@gmail.com
Abstract
This Research was intended to improve the eighth grade students’ active participation and their vocabulary achievement
by using crossword puzzles at SMPN 1 Glagah, Banyuwangi in the 2013/2014 Academic Year. The research design was
Classroom Action Research (CAR). The research subjects were the students of class VIII C at SMPN 1 Glagah,
Banyuwangi. The data were collected through the vocabulary test and observation. The data were analyzed quantitatively.
The result showed that there was an improvement on the percentage of the students who got score 70 or higher. It
improved from 69.44% in cycle 1 to 83.33% in cycle 2. Besides, there was also an improvement on the percentage of the
students who were actively participated in the teaching learning process of vocabulary by using crossword puzzles. It
improved from 65% in cycle 1 to 78.85% in cycle 2. It means that the use of crossword puzzles in the teaching learning
process of vocabulary could improve the students’ active participation and their vocabulary achievement in 2 cycles.
Therefore, it is suggested to the English teacher to use crossword puzzles as media in teaching vocabulary.
Keywords: Crossword Puzzles, Classroom Action Research, Students' Vocabulary Achievement, Vocabulary Achievement.
Introduction
As an international language, English plays a very
important role in the world. Its role is very important in
some fields, such as education, technology, trade, science,
culture, and economy. English is regarded as the language
of modernization and technological advancement. Most of
technical journals are written in English. Therefore,
English is very important to be mastered.
The Basic Course Outline of Institutional Level
Curriculum (Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan/KTSP)
states that English ability includes four language skills,
they are listening, speaking, reading, and writing. A good
English learner should have these four skills. These skills
include three language components (grammar, vocabulary,
and pronunciation), and they should be integrated well in
the teaching learning process. It means that the mastery of
the language components is required in order to improve
the four language skills.
According to Wilkins (in Thornbury, 2005:13),
vocabulary is the most important thing in learning
language. He says, “Without grammar very little can be
conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed”. It
means that we do need vocabulary to express our ideas and
feelings to others. In addition, Tarigan (1993:14-15) argues
that the increase of students’ language skills depends on the
ARTIKEL ILMIAH MAHASISWA, 2014, I (1): 1-4
increase of their quantity and quality of vocabulary. It is
clear that vocabulary is really needed to improve students’
language skills. Further, they can use the language in daily
life.
Commonly, many students who learn English as a
foreign language get difficulties in developing their
vocabulary. Most of them think that English is a difficult
lesson which is so hard to be studied because it has many
rules such as the form of the words, the meaning of the
words, and the use of the words in the sentences. To avoid
that condition, it really needs creative ways for the English
teachers to conduct an interesting English teaching
learning process. The teacher may provide interesting
media or games in explaining the material. It will
encourage the students to spend more attention so that the
teaching learning process will run more successfully. Hatch
and Brown (1995:422) state that the key in all vocabulary
teaching is to keep motivation high while encouraging
students to develop strategies that can continue to use once
they leave the classroom.
Based on the explanations above, the researcher did an
informal interview with the English teacher of class VIII C
students at SMPN 1 Glagah, Banyuwangi, which was held
on September 25th, 2013. The researcher found the
information that class VIII C students still have difficulties
in understanding vocabulary. Some students experienced
Aisah et al. 2014. Improving the Eighth Grade Students' Vocabulary Achievement by Using Crossword
Puzzles at SMPN 1 Glagah Banyuwangi
difficulty to enlarge and enrich their vocabulary because
they may forget the vocabulary materials taught by the
teacher easily. They also experienced difficulty to know the
meaning of the words. Besides, the students seemed bored
and passive while the teacher was explaining the materials.
Only some of them paid attention and responded to the
teacher’s questions and some of them focused on their own
activity. They also kept silent when the teacher asked some
questions. It happened because the teacher taught
monotonously and she did not provide interesting media or
game in the teaching learning process. The standard
passing grade of the school is 70, but students who can
reach it were only 55.56% (20 students out of 36 students).
From the discussion above, the researcher found that
the problem was the boring situation in the class. It is often
caused by the lack of variation of teaching learning
techniques done by the teacher. To solve this problem, the
teacher should provide interesting media in order to make
the classroom activities more various and interesting.
One of the techniques that may be applied to solve the
problems above is by using games in the teaching learning
process, especially in teaching vocabulary. Games help and
encourage the learners to understand the lesson easily.
Wright, et al. (1983:1-2) state that games can provide
intense and meaningful practice of language in four skills
(reading, writing, speaking and listening), for many types
of communications. They also state that it helps the
teachers to create the contexts in which the language is
useful and meaningful. It can be concluded that games can
help the teacher to teach the students with meaningful
practice so that the students can memorize the words longer
in their mind. There are many games that can be used in
teaching learning process, one of them is crossword
puzzles. Karim and Hasbullah (1986:2.34) say that
crossword puzzle is an interesting media that make the
students find the words with their thought and imagination
enjoyably. Crossword puzzle consists of a grid of squares
and blanks into which words crossing vertically and
horizontally are written according to clues.
The problems of the research in this study were: 1)
“Can the use of crossword puzzles improve the eighth grade
students’ active participation in the vocabulary teaching
learning process at SMPN 1 Glagah Banyuwangi?”, 2)
“Can the use of crossword puzzles improve the eighth grade
students’ vocabulary achievement of nouns, verbs,
adjectives, and adverbs at SMPN 1 Glagah Banyuwangi?”.
The main objective of this research were: 1) “To improve
the eighth grade students’ active participation in vocabulary
teaching learning process at SMPN 1 Glagah Banyuwangi
by using crossword puzzles in the 2013/2014 academic
year”, 2) “To improve the eighth grade students’ vocabulary
achievement of nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs at
SMPN 1 Glagah Banyuwangi by using crossword puzzles
in the 2013/2014 academic year”.
ARTIKEL ILMIAH MAHASISWA, 2014, I (1): 1-4
2
Research Method
The research design was Classroom Action Research
(CAR). Elliot (1991:69) states that a classroom action
research is the study of a social situation with a view to
improve the quality of the action within it. The purpose of
this research was to improve class VIII C students’
vocabulary achievement by using crossword puzzles at
SMPN 1 Glagah, Banyuwangi in the 2013/2014 academic
year.
This classroom action research was conducted at
SMPN 1 Glagah, Banyuwangi. The actions were carried out
in 2 cycles. Each cycle covered the activities of planning,
implementation, observation, and reflection (Elliot,
1991:70). The area of this research was determined by
using purposive method. Fraenkel and Wallen (2006:100)
state that a purposive method is a method in choosing a
research area based on a certain purpose or reason. The
subjects of this research were the students of class VIII-C in
SMPN 1 Glagah Banyuwangi in the 2013/2014 academic
year. The number of the students is 36 students. The
methods that were used in collecting the data were
vocabulary test and observation.
In this classroom action research, vocabulary
achievement test was used to measure the students’
vocabulary achievement. It was intended to measure the
vocabulary achievement of class VIII C students of SMPN 1
Glagah, Banyuwangi after being taught by using crossword
puzzles. According to Hughes (2003:13) achievement is
conducted to measure how successful the individual
students have achieved the goal of teaching and learning
process. Hughes (2003:26) states there are two criteria to
conduct a test namely validity and reliability. A test is said
to be valid if it measures accurately what is intended to be
measured. In this research, the test established content
validity because the test was constructed based on the
indicators to be measured, namely: noun, verbs, adjectives,
and adverbs learned by the students. The test that had
content validity might be reliable. Hughes (2003:34) states
that if a test is not valid, it cannot be reliable. This
statement implied that a valid test will be reliable as well. A
test is considered to be reliable if it gives consistent result
when the same test is given in different time. It means that
the result of the scores were the same whenever the test
were scored and whoever gives the score. The test that was
used to measure the students’ vocabulary achievement was
objective test in the form of multiple choices. The test
consisted of 40 items. Each correct item was scored 2.5
points for the right answer and 0 point for the wrong
answer. Thus, if we count up, the total of the score was 100.
In this research, observation checklist was used to
know the students’ active or passive participation in the
Aisah et al. 2014. Improving the Eighth Grade Students' Vocabulary Achievement by Using Crossword
Puzzles at SMPN 1 Glagah Banyuwangi
teaching and learning process of vocabulary by using
crossword puzzles. It contained some indicators of students’
active participation, namely: 1) students answer the
teacher’s questions; 2) students are paying attention to the
teacher’s explanation; 3) students are doing the crossword
puzzles; and 4) students are doing the vocabulary exercises
in the form of crossword puzzles.
Research Findings
This research had two findings. First, the result
showed that the use of crossword puzzles could improve
class VIII-C students’ active participation in the teaching
learning process of vocabulary at SMPN 1 Glagah,
Banyuwangi in the 2013/2014 academic year. Second, the
result showed that the use of crossword puzzles could
improve class VIII-C students’ vocabulary achievement at
SMPN 1 Glagah, Banyuwangi in the 2013/2014 academic
year.
In this research, the actions were considered successful
if 75% of the students achieved the standard score that was
70, and if 75% of the students actively participated in the
vocabulary teaching learning process by using crossword
puzzles.
In the first cycle, the results of observation 1 showed
that there were 21 students out of 35 students or 60% were
categorized as active students during the learning process of
vocabulary achievement by using crossword puzzles;
meanwhile, there were 21 students out of 30 students or
70% in the observation 2 were categorized as active
students. In average, there were 65% of the students were
active in the learning process. Additionally, the result of the
product evaluation in cycle 1 showed that there were 25
students out of 36 students or 69.44% who got score 70 or
higher. The students got difficulties in understanding
adverbs given. The students also got difficulties in
understanding the meaning of some difficult words.
Therefore, it made them confused in understanding the
clues given. Only some of the students brought their own
dictionary because the teacher did not allow them to bring
dictionary so that it made them difficult to find the meaning
of some words quickly and it also wasted of time. In
conclusion, the actions in cycle 1 were not successful yet.
Therefore, the actions were continued to cycle 2 by revising
some necessary aspects related to the use of crossword
puzzles in the teaching learning process of vocabulary.
In cycle 2, the researcher gave the students more
explanations about adverbs and giving the clues in the form
of pictures which are more familiar with the students to
make them easy to understand the types of words, especially
about adverbs. Further, the researcher asked the teacher to
allow the students to bring their own dictionary so that they
could find the difficult words and did the crossword puzzles
quickly and effectively. The results of observation in cycle 2
showed that there were 27 students (77.14%) of 35 students
in the first meeting who were categorized as active students
during the learning process of vocabulary by using
ARTIKEL ILMIAH MAHASISWA, 2014, I (1): 1-4
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crossword puzzles and there were 29 students (80.56%) of
36 students in the second meeting who were categorized as
active students. In average, there were 78.85% of the
students were active in learning process in cycle 2. It means
that the results of the observation in cycle 2 achieved the
target required that was 75% of the students active in
learning process. Further, the result of the product
evaluation that was vocabulary achievement test in cycle 2
showed that there were 30 students (83.33%) of 36 students
who got score 70 or higher. Based on the results of
observation and vocabulary achievement test in cycle 2, it
could be concluded that teaching vocabulary by using
crossword puzzles could improve the students’ vocabulary
achievement. Thus, the action research was ended.
The observation checklist showed that the average
percentage of the students’ participation in cycle 2 was
higher than that in cycle 1. In average, it increased from
65% of the students in cycle 1 to 78.85% of the students in
cycle 2 who actively participated during the learning
process. Therefore, it can be concluded that the use of
crossword puzzles improved the students’ participation in
learning process of vocabulary achievement. The
percentage of the students who got score 70 or higher in
cycle 2 (83.33%) was higher than that in cycle 1 (65%). It
means that it achieved the target required, that was 75%. It
proved that revising some factors helped the students
improve their vocabulary achievement. Therefore, the
students’ problems could be overcome in cycle 2. In
conclusion, it showed that the use of crossword puzzles
could improve the students’ vocabulary achievement in
cycle 2.
The result above proved the theories of the use of
games which could help the students in learning language,
including in learning vocabulary achievement. As Wright
et al. (1983:1) say that games can help the teacher to create
context in which the language is useful and meaningful.
Further, Tarigan (1993:260) said that crossword puzzle is a
kind of game that can enrich students' vocabulary by doing
this activity happily. Thus, they are playing the games by
learning new words. In addition, Karim and Hasbullah
(1986:2.36) explain that by doing crossword puzzle the
students are trained to think and find the correlations
between their knowledge and the clues to fill the boxes
appropriately.
Related to the research outcomes above, the use of
crossword puzzles could improve class VIII-C students’
vocabulary achievement and arouse students’ active
participation in the teaching learning process at SMPN 1
Glagah, Banyuwangi in the 2013/2014 academic year.
Conclusion and Suggestion
Based on the results, it could be concluded that the use
of crossword puzzles could improve class VIII-C students’
active participation in the classroom during the teaching
learning process of vocabulary at SMPN 1 Glagah
Banyuwangi in the 2013/2014 academic year. Meanwhile,
the use of crossword puzzles could improve the students’
Aisah et al. 2014. Improving the Eighth Grade Students' Vocabulary Achievement by Using Crossword
Puzzles at SMPN 1 Glagah Banyuwangi
vocabulary achievement of class VIII-C students of SMPN
1 Glagah Banyuwangi in the 2013/2014 academic year.
This learning media can be used as a consideration to
improve the teaching learning process of vocabulary.
Therefore, some suggestions are proposed to the following
people.
It is suggested to the English teacher of SMPN 1
Glagah, Banyuwangi to also use crossword puzzles in
teaching vocabulary because crossword puzzles can attract
students’ interest in learning vocabulary. The teacher can
take or create crossword puzzle from book or internet.
Therefore, it can help the students to learn new words and
remember those words easier. As a result, it can help the
students improve their vocabulary achievement.
It is also suggested to the students of SMPN 1 Glagah,
Banyuwangi to use crossword puzzles in order to help them
to enlarge their vocabulary repertoire. In addition, by doing
crossword puzzles, the students can find and understand
new words so that it could help them to increase their
vocabulary.
Moreover, it is suggested to the future researchers who
have the same problems in teaching vocabulary are
suggested to use crossword puzzles, because dealing with
the research result in this research, it can help the students
not only to have better understanding of new words, but
also to have better score in vocabulary achievement.
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